So I missed the first week of Rift Banner at the beginning of the season due to classes wrapping up / finals. Was eager to play this game mode again after so long, and especially after all the backlash / support it was getting (it was mostly backlash, but Twitter is garbage anyway - I digress).
Gave it the full week before posting anything since I'm beating a dead horse but here we go.
Rift was okay.
For an Iron Banner mode, a little weird. I gotta say I really prefer control or clash for IB but I'm happy we're getting an objective mode back into the game. Throughout the week I played only in the normal playlist, no freelance, in teams anywhere between solo to six-stack. I played mostly Omni Hunter, sue me, with some Dawnblade thrown in there. On the whole, I'd say most games were a very positive experience with some really exciting action even in the games I lost. So here's the good and bad.
[b]Good[/b]
- The meta is a teeny bit different. Its all mostly the same crap its always been, but seeing a Precious Scars titan run up to hit my res put a huge smile on my dumb face. Wanting to see more of that.
- Games that werent total blowouts felt like a legit tug o war. I rarely see that now, but here the action felt very momentous. I love the scramble, especially in a lobby of randoms.
- Subclass 3.0 felt very present and my build mattered. Omni invis on my squad made a lot of early fights end well, and the ability to keep my runner alive was exciting. Saw other cool stuff as well like a duo of behemoths making a fort around the rift. Got team-wiped once by a pincer from a warlock and a lucky Caliban hunter.
- I felt like I made a difference either slaying out OR playing the objective. And I never had to get frustrated with someone fragging tf out and ignoring the spark because usually someone else who can ONLY hold forward picks it up. Little something for everyone, even if everyone is usually terrible as their one job.
[b]Bad[/b]
- Way, waaay too many blowout games. Im all for a quick reset but it feels like we rarely matched other teams once we ran as a 4 to 6 stack. So I could imagine thats a crappy experience on the other side. As as solo, it wasnt fun for me either but whatever. I just dont care for freelance.
- Maps.... brother, Convergence has got to go. Itz got ta GO. More maps plz, 3 in a rotation got hella stale. (Wait... what, not enough big maps? Then like... make some, unvault some, idk)
- Victory while solo-queue felt heavily dependent on wether your matchmade squad of -blam!- knew how to revive. Feels like revives should be incentivised a bit more.
- Rewards [b]still[/b] suck. Sorry, IB loot is boring. The title is nice if 4 years late but the weapon offerings and sparse drops are not special. 100 legendary shards for a focus? Really?
So yeah, IB remains much of what it always was with a few nice new twists but little to inspire the grind. It needs some VERY snazzy armor and less-boring weapons / perks (Peacebond gets a pass. Maybe riiswalker too) to begin to feel even remotely worth serious playtime. However It was a marked improvement over token rewards, thank the lord thats gone.
Really though I dont understand the hate it got on arrival? I could understand how much of a slog that could have been without a Mercy Rule, but the majority of the complaints were just straight up wrong. Its Destiny pvp - we all should have a pretty good idea how it works by now. Play smart, dont rush in like a turd, revive your guys in mid-map, time your push right, and dunk.... its fun! Its just dumb, Overwatchy fun. Relax!
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